Andrew Grinberg - Special Projects Manager

Last week EPA held a public meeting in DC to share updates and take public comment on the agency’s study of oil and gas wastewater, also known as produced water. The oil and gas industry has grown significantly in water constrained states around the country, like Texas and New Mexico, and has a long history of putting drinking water sources at risk, from California to Pennsylvania.

California’s efforts to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions have earned it a reputation as a climate leader. Most of the state’s actions, however, have focused on the “demand-side” of carbon emissions: reducing energy consumption, increasing efficiency, using cleaner fuels and energy sources, and reducing vehicle miles traveled. However, as the country’s 5th largest oil producer (recently falling from 3rd), the state has never done enough to keep polluting fossil fuels from being produced in the first place.

On Thursday, news broke of a spill from the Keystone pipeline. The 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of toxic tar sands oil that was discharged into South Dakota grasslands was the largest spill on the Keystone to date. But every day, the oil industry intentionally discharges far greater volumes of toxic wastewater in the environment, and nobody seems to notice.

While CCUS may eventually prove to be a viable strategy for addressing climate change, using captured carbon to increase the production of oil and gas undermines the climate mitigation goals of carbon capture and storage. At the same time, CO2-EOR presents risks to groundwater, the environment, and the health of communities living near oil fields. As a known threat to drinking water sources, enhanced oil recovery is regulated by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Underground Injection Control (UIC) program.

EPA is already underfunded, suffering from years of budget cuts despite its crucial role in protecting all of us. Further reducing EPA’s budget would severely limit its ability to protect our water, air and climate. The proposal calls for slashing grants to states to carry out their environmental and health protection programs.

Yesterday, EPA’s Office of Water held a listening session on what Scott Pruitt and Donald Trump call, “the regulatory burden.” We call it public protections for our air, water, and health. I had the opportunity to testify. My comments are below. If you want to weigh in, you can take action here, and be sure to personalize the message you send.

A new report released by Clean Water Action has exposed major problems in Oklahoma’s oversight of the oil and gas industry. In addition to causing a huge spike in earthquakes, now it appears that injection wells may have also contaminated potential drinking water sources.

Congress is at it again. Big polluters and their friends are pushing an extreme agenda to gut our most important environmental, health and public protections. The attacks have started fast and furious, with handouts to the oil, gas and coal industry emerging as a top priority for Congressional Republicans.

If the first month of the 115th Congress, and the first two weeks of the Trump Inc Regime, has taught us anything, it’s that the fossil fuel industry calls the shots. Not that this is new, but with a Republican controlled House, Senate and President, the top priority has been to give their friends in the oil, gas and coal industries everything they want.